DDA gets 12,000 applications for ownership rights under PM-UDAY

New Delhi: The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has received nearly 12,000 applications under PM-UDAY for ownership rights from residents of 1,731 unauthorised

New Delhi: The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has received nearly 12,000 applications under PM-UDAY for ownership rights from residents of 1,731 unauthorised colonies in the Capital since March 22, when the lockdown was imposed due to the coronavirus pandemic. This is more than double the number of applications the land-owning agency had received in the first three months after the scheme was launched in December 2019.

HT Image

The Pradhan Mantri Unauthorised Colonies in Delhi Awas Adhikar Yojana (PM-UDAY) – one of the main poll planks of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the Delhi assembly elections — is aimed at benefiting four million people living in 1,731 unauthorised colonies in the Capital.

DDA vice-chairman Anurag Jain said, “We are working on streamlining the system so that more applications can be processed at the earliest. For this, we are planning to rope in more field surveyors. We are also roping in an agency to provide an alternate way to register under the scheme. Currently, people can either fill the application online on their own or through our five processing centres. This will be an alternate way. We are also sending messages to RWAs in unauthorised colonies telling them about the process.”

According to DDA officials, the land-owning agency has received 11,922 applications from property owners between March 21 and July 17, 2020. Just 4,573 people had submitted their applications between December 16, 2019 (when the scheme was launched) and March 20, 2020. “Due to Covid-19, the field survey process was put on hold while we were accepting applications online. We have further simplified the online process due to which there was a huge jump in the number of applications,” said a senior DDA official.

But the process to clear the applications has been rather slow. DDA officials say that while they are receiving the applications online, they couldn’t process it due to the lockdown. “The process to clear application involves a physical survey of the property, which was stopped during the Covid-19 lockdown. We resumed the field survey in June. More than 600 properties have been surveyed. We are trying to expedite the process,” said a DDA official.

In the last eight months, 938 property owners have been given either conveyance deeds or authorisation slips of which 251 were cleared after June 1. A DDA official said, “Even now, we have instructed the field teams to follow all norms and guidelines issued by the Centre and the Delhi government regarding Covid-19 while doing the measurement of the property. We are not processing the applications which are in containment zones right now.”

As part of the process to get ownership rights, property owners from the 1,731 unauthorised colonies have to first register on the website for PM-UDAY, which is managed by the DDA, and then submit an application along with his/her property documents. While the number of applications received by the DDA has increased during the lockdown period, the registration has dropped significantly.

After document verification, a team is sent to the spot to carry out measurement and assessment of the property. A conveyance deed or authorisation slip is issued to the owner based on the field report and after payment made by the owner. Based on the conveyance deed or authorisation slip, a property owner can get the property registered with the Delhi government’s revenue department.

The scheme is aimed at benefitting roughly one million households, but so far just 2.77 lakh property owners have registered on the portal. Between March 21 and July 17, as many as 23, 374 people had registered on the portal as against 2.5 lakh people before the lockdown.